“I go there again? Never!”
“Oh yes, you will, often, because we all like you, and you are just the boy to grow into the man we want. I had no sooner mentioned your name to Mr Selby than he said, ‘Yes, he must join us, of course.’”
“Join you? Why, you are a band of conspirators.”
“Silence, I tell you! That man in front heard you and turned his head.”
“I don’t care.”
“Then I must make you. Look here, Frank, whatever we are, you are the same.”
“I!” cried the boy in horror.
“Of course. This is twice you have come to our club, and there is not a man there to-night who does not look upon you as our new brother.”
“Then they must be undeceived.”
“Impossible! You have joined hands with us, and breathed our prayer for him across the water.”